Carmona and Flake to participate in Pinal Partnership Forum
October 17, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: A late calendar notice from the Dr. Richard Carmona for U.S. Senate campaign: Carmona and Flake to participate in Pinal Partnership Forum tomorrow Tomorrow morning, Rich Carmona will participate in a forum hosted by the Pinal Partnership and moderated by Brahm Resnik, NBC 12 political reporter and Sunday Square Off host. The … Read more
‘Mr. Self Deportation’ doubles down during debate
October 17, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The issue of immigration reform and the DREAM Act came up during last night's debate. Willard "Mittens" Romney whined that President Obama promised a comprehensive immigration reform bill in his first year during the 2008 campaign, and he failed to deliver.
Somehow Whiner Willard has conveniently forgotten that in Obama's first year, the U.S. and world financial systems were in a catastrophic collapse, and the U.S. and world economy were on their way to cratering into a new economic dark ages, a parting "gift" to President Obama from his predecessor George W. Bush.
It's called prioritizing "Mittens" — deal with the disasters first. Stop the ship from sinking, then you can rearrange the deck chairs.
Whiner Willard has also conveniently forgotten that Republicans like Sen. John McCain, who once championed a comprehensive immigration reform bill, disavowed his own bill during the 2008 campaign and adopted the GOP hard-line on immigration reform. McCain could have become an elder statesman by working with Obama. Instead, he opted for the role of embittered sore loser, constantly sniping at the man who defeated him.
When Republicans conspired on the day of Obama's inauguration to oppose everything he proposed, Robert Draper Book: GOP's Anti-Obama Campaign Started Night Of Inauguration, who exactly was going to partner with Obama on a bipartisan compromise? The GOP has had from day one a scorched earth policy of "just say no."
During last night's debate, President Obama slammed Romney for having endorsed "self-deportation" during the GOP primaries as a credible immigration policy. (Romney's chief anti-immigrant adviser is Kris Kobach, the author of Arizona's SB 1070 and other anti-immigrant measures). Steve Benen writes, Trying (and failing) to defend 'self-deportation':
Romney responded, haltingly:
"Self-deportation says let it, let people make their own choice. What I was saying is, we're not going to round up 12 million people, undocumented, illegals, and take them out of the nation. Instead, let, make people make their own choice. And if they, if they find that, that they can't get the benefits here that they want and they can't find the job they want, then they'll make a decision to go a place where, where they have better opportunities."
Romney’s Newest Tax Deception
October 17, 2012
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Posted by Bob Lord [Cross Posted at Daily Kos] Romney wants everyone to believe he does not intend to cut taxes on the wealthy, but he's being very careful not to say exactly that. What he said last night, consistent with but more specific than his words in the first debate, was that he "would … Read more
Sen. John Kerry on Morning Joe
October 17, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I am no fan of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC. It is the purest form of D.C. media villager conventional wisdom with the likes of Mark Halperin, Chuck Todd, POLITICO reporters, etc. No thanks.
But as a favor to Bob Lord who was impressed with this post-debate interview this morning of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who plays Mitt Romney as the sparring partner for President Obama in debate prep, I will post the video of the interview (below the fold). The transcript is not yet up.
Some highlights from Sen. Kerry, who analyzes Romney's $5 trillion tax cut plan and destroys the "Mitt Math" that just doesn't add up (and Joe Scarborough agrees):
"Mitt Romney, first of all in my view, last night was petulant. He was characteristically expediently misleading."
"Mitt Romney is perpetrating a fraud on the American people."
"We have a man running for the presidency of the United States of America on the central issue of our time and he is not being straight with the American people. I find it stunning. It's to me disqualifying."
"Massachusetts, the state that knows him the best, trusts him the least. . . He can't even contest the state he governed because people there know what he did. He left our governor with a billion dollar deficit, he lost 45,000 manufacturing jobs, twice the number of the national (average)…"
Sen. Kerry also discusses the Simpson-Bowles "catfood commmission" on entitlements social insurance programs of social security and Medicare, because that is all the D.C. media villagers care about.
Video below the fold.
Martha McSally: No wonder I have no idea what McSally stands for
October 17, 2012
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by David Safier When Martha McSally gave her opening statement at Monday's Catalina Foothills Ed Forum, I kinda liked her. She gave off a positive energy when she talked about herself. But when she answered responded to questions about education, all I got was the same energy. No information, just energy. If I were to … Read more
Barber calls for new environmental impact statement on Rosemont
October 17, 2012
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by David Safier
Ron Barber is absolutely right about the need for a new environmental study at Rosemont.
U.S. Rep. Ron Barber today asked Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to order a new Environmental Impact Statement of the proposed Rosemont mine southeast of Tucson because of major changes to the mine’s plan of operation.
When Rosemont changed the way it planned to mine and process the ore and the length of time it planned to stay in business, it meant the previous studies are out of date. Ray Carroll agrees:
Ray Carroll, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors who represents the site of the proposed mine, agreed with Barber’s call for a new Environmental Impact Statement and commended his leadership on the issue.
You can read Barber's Media Release below the fold.
About Romney’s ‘binders full of women’ – not a true story
October 17, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Suzi Parker writes at the Washington Post, Mitt Romney’s ‘binders full of women’:
The minute Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said the phrase, social media exploded.
[Before the night was over, it had its own Tumblr. It had its own Facebook page.]
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“Binders Full Of Women” was certainly an awkward phrase to say and it failed to even work as an answer to the question. Instead, it reminded people of a time when women wore girdles or women in China bound their feet as status symbol that allowed them to marry into money. For some, it sounded like a great idea for a Halloween costume.
And like Big Bird, it became an instant meme.
Romney then went a bit patriarchal, reminding me of the Dabney Coleman character in the 1980s movie, “9 to 5.”
“Now one of the reasons I was able to get so many good women to be part of that team was because of our recruiting effort. But number two, because I recognized that if you’re going to have women in the workforce that sometimes you need to be more flexible. My chief of staff, for instance, had two kids that were still in school.”
He continued, saying that his chief of staff couldn’t work late because she had to be home “making dinner” and “being with them when they get home from school.”
Romney said, “Let’s have a flexible schedule so you can have hours that work for you.”
Do fathers not have to get home and cook dinner? Do they not want to be there for their children when school is out? After all, there are such things as single dads who balance children and work. Mitt Romney has obviously been watching too many episodes of “Leave It To Beaver” on TV Land on the campaign trail. The days of Donna Reed are long over, Mr. Romney.
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[F]ew will remember any of that tomorrow because “binders full of women” already has its own Twitter account.
‘Don’t make me angry’ Frank Antenori is terrorizing the villagers, again
October 17, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
"Don't make me angry" Frank Antenori is terrorizing the villagers, again. And lashing out at his fellow Tea-Publicans.
The political gossip rag The Yellow Sheet Report (subscription required) reports in a story captioned "No Holding Back":
Antenori lived up to his reputation as a warrior-politician this weekend, blasting his critics in a scorched-earth speech to a crowd of adoring fans at a Tucson park on Saturday. Antenori was especially acerbic toward fellow Republicans and HighGround consultants Doug Cole and Chuck Coughlin, who he said were motivated purely by self-interest when they contributed to Bradley’s campaign. (They each gave Bradley $100 in August.)
Antenori insinuated that the lobbyists didn’t want him back in the Legislature because he’ll vote against implementing Obamacare in Arizona and they have been hired to push for a Medicaid expansion. “They were given a lot of money, six-figure money, to lobby on behalf of certain organizations to implement the healthcare [exchange] and expand the Medicaid entitlement to 138 percent of the federal poverty level,” Antenori said.
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Antenori also had some choice words for former lawmaker Pete Hershberger, who called him “the bully of the Legislature” in a recent Daily Star article. “Pete Hershberger? That guy hasn’t been a Republican in 20 years,” he said.
Antenori’s speech resonated with about 40 people who came to see him. One of them, James Kelley, a Republican who is running for the Pima County board of supervisors, sees nothing wrong with Antenori’s bluntness and seems to relish it. “You know how to get a warrior to calm down? Stop shooting at him. He’s a warrior, and he’s got a warrior’s heart, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Kelley told our reporter.
